Spanish judges outlawed Basque separatist party Batasuna yesterday under a new law allowing political parties to be banned if they do not condemn terrorism.
Two months before local elections, a panel of 16 judges unanimously agreed to ban the party accused of supporting the Basque guerrilla group, ETA.
Batasuna, which enjoyed 10 per cent of the vote in the Basque country in 2001, denies being linked to ETA although it refuses to condemn the group's violence. It could still appeal to Spain's top judicial authority, the Constitutional Court.
ETA is accused of being responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people since 1968 in its struggle for a Basque nation, and is labelled as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union.
Spain's Interior Minister, Mr Angel Acebes, welcomed the judges' decision as an important day for democracy and the fight against terrorism.
"We have evidence that all the institutions of Spain's democracy have said it is time to put a stop to a legal political party in our democracy being used to co-operate and collaborate . . . with terrorist activity," Mr Acebes told a news conference after the judges announced their decision.
High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon had already suspended the group, saying it was an integral part of ETA.
Municipal elections are scheduled across Spain in May.
Last summer an overwhelming majority of Congress voted to ask the Supreme Court to ban the party, under the "political parties law" passed in June 2002 which said parties could be banned for failing to condemn terrorism.
The controversial measure led to criticism from jurists and defenders of free speech.
Batasuna regularly obtains between 10 and 20 per cent of the vote in Basque regional elections.
In the most recent polls, it won seven seats in the Basque parliament and eight in the Navarra assembly.
The party regularly says it "regrets" ETA attacks but does not formally "condemn" them as Madrid would like, pointing instead to the need to resolve the underlying problems that beset the Basque country.
Spain has been rounding up alleged leaders of ETA and last month closed down a Basque language newspaper for allegedly collaborating with ETA. - (Reuters)